Lucia Pombo Ayora

Ph.D. Student

lucia.pomboayora@kaust.edu.sa

Research Interest

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Lucía was born in Cali, Colombia, where she grew up surrounded
by beautiful mountains and forests. This scenery inspired her to want to
understand these natural ecosystems, which led her to study biology at
Universidad del Valle. After a few semesters of studying various aspects of
biology, field trips to the Colombian Pacific coast sparked her interest in the
sea and caused her to fall in love with fish and marine ecology. She then
joined the university’s Coral Reef Ecology research group and the Systematics,
Evolution, and Animal Biodiversity research group, which allowed her to develop
different projects related to reef fish communities, population ecology, and
bioerosion by parrotfish. Her bachelor’s thesis assessed some aspects of
parrotfish feeding morphology, ecology, and systematics.

While
at KAUST Lucía wants to learn how to use molecular tools to answer ecological
questions related to coral reef fishes. She hopes to enjoy the beauty of the
Red Sea while broadening her view and understanding of the unique marine life
in the region.

"KAUST shall be a beacon for peace, hope and reconciliation, and shall serve the people of the Kingdom and the world."